When He Cries
by writerfromheaven
Summary: Through the countless time loops, you learn about Keiichi Maebara, Rena Ryuugu, Mion and Shion Sonozaki, Satoko Hojo, and Rika Furude, as well as Hanyuu. However, there's still one person who doesn't receive the attention that everyone else does. It's now time to shine a light on Satoshi Hojo.


"Nii-Nii!", my mind returned to me. Was I dozing off again? "Nii-Nii, we'll be late!", Satoko was calling for me. Right, I needed to go to school. I picked up my bag. "I'll be right over Satoko, you can leave now.", "Okay, but hurry up Nii-Nii." I heard the front door open and close. In an effort to wake myself up, I stretched a bit, then got my bag and walked out. Satoko was already farther down the road. I ran to catch up to her. I had begun another day, and thankfully, I'd finished a hard part already. "Nii-Nii!" Satoko was unusually happy today. I smiled back at her and ruffled her hair.

Chie-sensei didn't have much planned for today. Since there weren't that many rooms in the school, we had to share one room together. This made things difficult, as you might imagine. I put my belongings down next to Mion and Shion Sonozaki. They were identical twins, and the only way that you could tell them apart was that they sometimes had different hairstyles. Mion usually had a long ponytail down her back, while Shion either had a ponytail, or she let out her hair. Did I mention that they both had green hair? I found it quite interesting, to say the least.

Today I was sitting next to Shion, I think. "Good Morning, Satoshi-kun", the twins said almost identically. "Good morning Mion-chan, Good morning Shion-chan". Satoko went and sat down next to Rika Furude. A girl around her age, and head of the local shrine. I don't know if something in this area affects hair color, but Rika had blue hair. Satoko and I had blonde hair, but that's normal-ish. I don't know why I'm focusing on hair so much, maybe because it's the first thing you see when you look at someone.

The school day passed like any other, pretty boring mainly, but was made interesting because my friends were there. "Stand, Bow.", the bell had stopped ringing as our class left the room. I looked for Shion, but couldn't find her. I saw her outside and ran to ask her a question. "Hey Shion-chan", "Yes?", "Isn't the Cotton Drifting festival coming up soon?", "Now that I think about it, I believe it's about a week from tomorrow." "Oh, that soon?", "Yeah, time really goes by fast.". Our tones grew somber almost instantly, once we realized what we were talking about. "Do you think It'll happen again?" Shion asked, "I hope not, I don't know what it would be like missing someone here. Everyone's just so close." Our conversation was interrupted by Mion. "Hey, Shion, we need to go! Remember?", Shion jumped, and and stammered out, "Umm, Yeah, I forgot, I need to go somewhere, sorry!". I wasn't quite sure where she had to go, but I didn't inquire further. I turned around to go home. I quickly caught up with Satoko, who was waiting for me farther down the road. She didn't meet my eyes as we walked. I simply stared at the ground. We entered our house as quietly as possible, I tried to remain calm, but my heart wouldn't slow down. Satoko hid behind my back as we crept to our rooms.

I slid open the door as quietly as possible and walked in. I didn't have anything to do, so I went over to Satoko's room. I slipped out of my room and tiptoed down the hallway. I heard something down the corridor, it sounded like crying. That wasn't good. Something hit something else. There was a crash. I sprinted down the stairs into our main room. Satoko was lying near the table with chairs sprawled all about. She was whimpering something, even though I couldn't directly hear her, I knew she was calling for me. I knelt down next to her and picked her up. My aunt was not that far away, seething and ranting on about something. I considered my options. My uncle wasn't home yet, so if my aunt followed me, I could probably defend myself. I took Satoko back to my room, against my aunt's protests. Her voice a faded pitch in my head.

I inspected Satoko's limp body. She looked to be bleeding from a few places and her head was bruised, but nothing else life-threatening. She quietly whispered "Nii-Nii", as I held her close to me. I don't think I mentioned this, but my aunt and uncle, they're, well, as you can probably tell, they're not the best of parents. I went to my desk and got a few band-aids which I kept for emergencies. I closed up most of Satoko's wounds and cleaned up the blood. I had her go to sleep so that she could recover. I thought to myself, "Alright, now that that's over with, I need to…" I was interrupted by a door being opened. Not mine, but the one to the house. My uncle, Teppei walked in. "Ah, Tamae, what happened? Why are the chairs all like this?", "It's that brat of a kid Satoko. She messed all of this up again. I made sure to punish her though,". I stopped listening once my aunt finished that sentence.

A few minutes later, the first thing that happened was that the door to my room opened. Then, my uncle walked in and kicked me. Not just any normal kick, an actual hard kick to the gut from an adult. I keeled over, and saw blood dripping out of my mouth. He then grabbed my collar and threw me into a wall. I'm not sure if the wall cracked, but I think it did. I was close to blacking out or throwing up, I'd forgotten how to tell the feelings apart. I pretended to be knocked out, in hopes that he'd stop. Somehow, it worked. He back off and walked out of my room laughing as he did. I went to sleep next to Satoko bruised and bloody.

I awoke in the early morning, Satoko was holding me tight. I couldn't blame her, I was the only one she could turn to. I'd stopped bleeding and felt a little sore, but the bruises were still there. I hoped no one would see them. I trudged to school with Satoko in tow. After yesterday, she seemed even more afraid than usual. She didn't sit with Rika today, and st down next to me instead. Rika, who was slightly annoyed, moved her belongings next to Satoko and sat next to her instead. Mion and Shion took my right. Chie-sensei wrote something on the board. New Student Today, that was odd. I hadn't heard of anyone being born recently, so someone had to have moved here. "Why would someone move to Hinamizawa?" Mion asked. As if she knew what was going on, the new student walked into the classroom. She was wearing a white dress with a bowtie. Her brown hair wasn't as long as the Sonozaki's, but around as long as Satoko's. She wrote her name on the board and turned to face the class. "Hello! My name is Rena Ryuugu, nice to meet you!"

The Class responded with a warm welcome. Rena scanned the classroom and found that the only open seat was next to Rika. However, once she looked at Rika, she burst out, "Oh, you're so cute! I want to take you home!" Chie-sensei yelled in a nice demeanor, "Rena-chan, don't take other students home!". She pouted and sat down next to Rika. I saw that our desks were arranged in a straight line, so upon further inquiry, we all moved our desks so that we were in a 3 by 2 rectangle. Rena seemed like a nice girl, one that I could befriend over time. Mion began to almost interrogate Rena on what she liked, disliked, etc. Rena seemed to have a very strong liking towards cute things, which came as a surprise to no one, and she liked playing games as well. We talked for a while until Chie-sensei made us do work while she introduced Rena to what we were learning.

"Stand, Bow." I was walking out of the classroom when I heard a voice. "Wait, Satoshi-kun." Mion was standing behind me, along with Rika, Rena and Shion. Satoko turned around as well. "We've decided to make a game club!", "A game club?", "Yes, a club in which we play games.", "That's obvious!" Shion objected. Satoko and I didn't have much else to do after school, so we decided to join. "Sure, why not." Satoko followed me back into the classroom. "By the way, we need to set up a punishment system for the losers," Rena chimed in. "Oh, right... How about for this game, the loser must obey the winner until tomorrow,". Wow, Mion really was taking the role of the leader. "Well, what game are we playing?" Satoko asked. Oh, she actually asked a question, that's good. It means she's recovering. "Hmmm, Let's play for now, Old Geezer.", "Old geezer? Is that like Old Maid?", "Except it's different." Mion cut me off.

After briefly explaining the rules, we began our game. Rika was especially good at telling what our cards were, and she easily went out first, "I'm out,". Mion finished second. "I'm out!", Satoko and Rika finished at the same time because of card choice. "We're both done, Nii-Paa!", so it was me against Shion. I had a 4 and an Ace in my hand. I was pretty sure that Shion had a 4, but I didn't know what her other cards were. "Bring it on!" I challenged. I selected the right card in Shion's Hand, it was a 7. That wasn't good at all. If she chose my 4, she'd win. However, if she didn't choose a 4, then I'd be able to see which card her 4 is. She looked deeply into my eyes, I think she was trying to look at my cards off of the reflection, and selected the middle card in my hand, it was the Ace. I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm finished!". What? She didn't have a 4 but an Ace? But when did she get the Ace? She must've chosen it from someone else's hand. "Alright! Now, to abide by the rules, Rika-chan, you now have a slave. His name is Satoshi! Do what you like with him."

I don't see how wearing a dog costume can be so funny. Everyone else was cracking up when I put it on. Rena wanted to take me home, which implied that I was cute. On the way home, I realized that I'd had a good time. I was happy. It was fun. Satoko looked to be in a good mood. "Satoko, do you want to go to the club again?", "Yes!". She held my hand and we walked home together. Our Aunt and Uncle weren't home today, they'd left a note saying they were going out into town for the night. Satoko and I felt very relieved. Satoko had become very good at making dinner, since I couldn't cook. After we had dinner, we made sure to clean the house as best as we could, so that we wouldn't get "Punished" for the house being dirty. We then went upstairs to our rooms. Satoko insisted on sleeping with me tonight. I didn't object, as she probably would be scared on her own.

I showed up to school early the next morning to return the dog costume, so Satoko came with me. Rika was already there and she began to talk to Satoko. I sat in my usual seat and waited for everyone else to arrive. Mion and Shion appeared first, and took their seats on either side of me. Rena showed up later than most people, and sat down across from Mion. Rika ended up sitting across from me, while Satoko was to her left. The school day went by as usual. After school everyone met up again for another club meeting.

"Alright, today we are going to go outside, since we didn't have gym," We all ran outside to follow Mion. "Today's game, is going to be Capture the Flag! The rules of the game are that you have to take the other team's flag back to your side without getting tagged! However, one team will have to defend the flag, while the other team has to try and steal it. If someone on the attacking team is tagged on the defending team's side, they go to jail, they must be tagged in jail by someone from their team to get out of jail."

I nodded my head. "What are the teams going to be?" Rika asked. Mion had already planned for this it seems, "The teams will be Rena, Satoko and I, against Rika, Shion and Satoshi." Who wants to be the attacking team? I raised my hand. Shion sighed and raised her hand. Rika already had her hand raised, so we were the attacking team. "The attacking team will have to infiltrate the school and find the flag. The jail will be one of the classrooms, although you guys won't know until you're there." Mion had an evil look in her eye. Both teams were given time to strategize. "Alright, then, BEGIN!"

I scouted out the doorways first, in case some defenders were lying in ambush. Rika followed behind me. I think our team had an advantage since we had Rika, because she could predict the future, I think. I myself had gotten very good at sneaking around, because of, you know… yeah. I think I knew what each person's footsteps sounded like. As long as I didn't confuse my allies for enemies, Mion's footsteps were the heaviest, followed by Rena, and then Satoko. So when I heard someone checking the area, I knew it was Rena. "Come out attackers, come out of your hiding spots!"

Rena didn't seem like she was the most adept at this game, so I walked out of my hiding spot and lured her to me so that Shion could get through. I hadn't told her about this, but I thought she would catch on pretty quickly. I strolled out from behind a wall, and took on an expression of surprise. I hoped that this would fool Rena and think I was vulnerable and it worked. Rena took the bait and ran for me. As soon as she had passed Shion's hiding spot, Shion ran past her, but Rena was ready for her. She pivoted her foot and reversed her momentum and tagged Shion right as she was about to get away.

I was shocked. Rena actually knew how to play this game. I completely underestimated her. She smirked at me, "Is that the best you can do?", "Come at me if you think you can get me!" Rena dashed at me, but then I had an idea. I stood there and didn't move. She pivoted her foot and turned to try and tag me if I attempted to juke her. Because of this, she ended up completely missing me and tripping over her own feet.

I walked past her and helped Shion up. "Rena-chan, where's the jail?", "Umm, the jail is that one room near the back of the school,". I nodded to Shion and we ran away from Rena, as she was getting up on her feet. By now, Rika should be caught, as per our plan. We ran to the jail and thankfully, Rika was there. By her observations, the flag was probably in our classroom, and Mion was guarding it. Satoko was guarding the other entrance to the school. Unless Rena managed to tell her teammates what had happened, they shouldn't know that we were all out of jail and inside the school. Trying to be quiet, we all ran to our classroom. We heard someone pacing around inside of it.

I creaked open the door and looked in. The flag was on top of the blackboard. Meaning that you had to stand on a chair to get it. I had to give the defending team credit for putting it there, as it was hard to balance it properly. I moved the door open silently so that no one else on the defending team could hear. We then walked in to face Mion. "I see, so you've all made it this far. But good luck getting past me!" We looked around the classroom and realized that all of the desks were behind us, at the back.

Now, we were in trouble. We couldn't wait too much longer or else we would be caught by more of Mion's teammates. It would take way too long to move a chair even close enough to try and jump for the flag. And we couldn't blindly rush to the flag, or else we'd get captured. And the jail was so far away, wait a minute… "Guys, I've got a plan."

"Hey, Mion, how's grandma doing?", Shion asked. "She's fine, and so are our parents. In case you're wondering." Mion responded. "Twins do share minds, you know.", "Alright, stop with this facade, I know you're trying to distract me so that you guys could take the flag.", Shion chuckled, "I'm sorry sister, but it's already too late." I had hoisted Rika onto my back and sprinted towards Mion. After she got over the initial shock, she tagged me, but Rika had gotten the flag. "Well, guess I'm off to jail!" I then sprinted out of the classroom and down the hallway. From what Shion told we later, it had then dawned on Mion what had happened. She looked infuriated, which probably was funny for Shion, seeing her sister look so angry. Once I made it to the jail, I let Rika down. "Alright, time to win this game!"

Now I just had to hope our coordination was good. I sat in jail quietly and Rena wandered over. "Oh, you got tagged?", "Yeah, but it's fine.". "Why? Has something happened?", "You'll see.' Rena pouted and walked away. From what I could tell, our coordination was indeed good. Shion had just jumped from the window in the classroom, she told me she could handle it, just as Rika was sprinting towards Satoko at the exit. She then threw the flag over Satoko to Shion, who had just landed. In jail, I could hear cheering, so I got up and walked out. I high-fived Rika and Shion, and waited for the losers outside to decide their punishment.

Since no one could come up with a punishment, we agreed that the winners would get a bonus in the next game that we played. We then parted ways and headed home. "Nii-Nii, did you help make the plan in Capture the Flag?", "Why do you ask?", "Well, the plan seemed really smart, so I wondered who made it.". "Well, the thing is, it was a team effort. We all worked together to make the plan work. Maybe you could do the same thing if you guys all worked together.", "Oh, that makes sense. You're so smart Nii-Nii." I smiled and ruffled her hair. She laughed and hugged me.

Satoko and I were so happy that we forgot, even if only for a moment. We walked into our house and headed to our rooms, completely oblivious of what was coming. I opened the door to my room, I should probably call it our room, since Satoko was treating it like her room as well. I felt something grab my collar, and I turned around to see the hideous face of my uncle. He punched me across my face and then kicked me to the ground. Satoko screamed, and started crying. My uncle put his foot on my chest and begin to put pressure on it. It was getting hard to breathe. Satoko ran up and grabbed my uncle's leg to try and get him to get off, but he slapped her across her face, and she backed off. Forced my uncle's leg of of me and back off. He smirked, knowing that he was in a position of total power.

"You and Satoko make dinner for us, if it's not perfect, we'll punish you again.". Satoko leaned over me, I could feel teardrops landing on my face. "Nii-Nii" she whimpered, I hugged her close. I wanted to do something, this had to stop. Satoko and I couldn't put up with this much longer. I sat up against a wall. Satoko sat next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. "Satoko, you should probably go start making dinner, I'll be downstairs soon.", "But Nii-Nii, I don't want to go alone!", "Alright, hold on a second,". I stood up using the wall and trudged downstairs with Satoko in tow.

Even from the table, which I was setting, I could tell Satoko was trembling. I got up and walked up behind her. She jerked when she noticed my presence behind her. "It's okay, Satoko. We'll be fine." I noticed that she was crying, I hugged her tight. Inside, all the rage that I had held back for so long was finally starting to boil up. I had to end it. I had to prevent Satoko and I from suffering. We'd already been through so much, being tormented by our fellow villagers, being abused by our Aunt and Uncle, and not having enough money to live on our own, forcing us to stay with people we hate. I knew what I had to do. I would kill my aunt, and make her pay for what she's done to us in blood.


End file.
